700,000 People visited Emergency rooms this year due to Drug Reactions

According to a recent article in Dermatology Times,

Seniors accounted for one quarter of adverse drug events and for more than half of those that required hospitalizations.

A recent study in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA 2006;296:1858-66) also found that most adverse druge events were due to unintentional overdoses from a small set of medications that typically require monitoring. These include warfarin (coumadin), insulin, digoixin and these three accounted for one third of all adverse drug events in this population of people.

The five most common adverse durge classes were:
1. Insulins
2. opoiod containing analgesics
3. anti-coagulants
4. agents containing amoxicillin
5. anti-histamines and cold remedies


The most common conditions associated with drug reactions prompting Emergency Department visits:
1. dermatologic conditions
2. gastrointestinal problems
3. neurologic conditions

One third of adverse drug reactions are allergic reactions.

Interesting fact:
Sixteen of 18 drugs that caused adverse drug events have been in use for over 20 years.